Fool of a Took
by Fool of a Brandybuck
Summary: Merry and Pippin are out food picking, but after splitting up, Merry can't find Pippin again. It gets too dark to go looking for him, so Merry convinces himself that Pippin is fine. NO SLASH. MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH


**I wasn't 100% sure on this one, but I edited it, so it may be a bit better. I understand this type of story isn't for everyone! If you don't understand why I write major character deaths in my stories, please read my profile page... I've also tried to make this factual as possible. Please, I'd love reviews!**

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Food picking was always a favourite past time of Pippin and Merry's. They've always loved searching the bushes and in trees for elderberries, apples, mushrooms, cherries and anything else they could find that was edible; and even things that weren't, they'd probably give it a go anyway.

"Over here!" Merry's voice yelled, "I've found some blueberries!"

Pippin's eyes lit up at the sound of blueberries.

"Blueberries!?" He cried with joy, and he rushed past trees and bushes to where Merry was standing, plucking the dots off the shrub in front of him.

Pippin grinned as he began to help his cousin pluck them off and pop them into their bag of freshly picked goods. The bag was not nearly as full as they would've liked, but the two hobbits just couldn't help but put every second berry into their mouth.

Oh! The pure bliss Pippin got just by eating a blueberry. He had always grown up loving the taste of them; they could go with anything! You could eat them in pastries, cakes, pies, muffins, pancakes and puddings. You could mash them into a smooth or lumpy jam and spread across bread- which could also have blueberries in it. Or turn them into a lovely sauce for meats or even add them into drinks, like smoothies and even some alcohol drinks- there was NOTHING Pippin didn't like about blueberries; they were truly orgasmic to him.

Once they had scavenged every last berry on that shrub, their eyes quickly diverted to the shrubs next to it, searching for more.

"Are there any more? Can you see any?" Merry asked aloud as he began wondering off, peering and popping his head into the bush.

"Nothing." Pippin stated in an obviously disappointed tone; but then started chuckling gladly.

"But I do see them!" Pippin cheerfully announced and he pointed upwards. Merry turned around and followed Pippin's gaze until his eyes landed on some of the reddest and biggest, and possibly even the juiciest apples he had seen in a long time.

"Ooh." Merry moaned as his eyes slowly closed and he imagined taking the first bite into one of the apples. The burst of rich, tangy juice, the crunch of the skin and the wonderful texture of the apple in his mouth; Merry loved his apples to the extent of obsession, he always had one close at hand.

"Pippin," Merry didn't taking his eyes off the red dots in the tree, "climb up there and chuck 'em down here." He told his cousin.

Merry walked up behind him and saw Pippin turn and give him a quizzical look, "Why do I have to do it?" He asked.

"'Cause you're the better climber." Merry stated, as if it were obvious and he risked a quick glance at Pippin before staring back at those gorgeous, shiny, smooth apples that were too far out of his reach.

"C'mon!" Merry exclaimed when Pippin didn't move. He gestured his cousin toward the tree, "Make sure you get the best ones." He mentioned as Pippin finally started his climb.

Once at the top, Pippin had started plucking apples and piled a few in his scarf, using it as a carrier.

"You ready?" He yelled down to Merry, who had the bag open on the ground, with his hands above his head, ready to catch the fruit.

"Ready!" Merry shouted back, and he braced himself for the first catch; which failed. A loud_ 'thump'_ sound was heard as it landed right on the bridge of his nose before falling to the grass.

A righteously loud, but suppressed laugh came from above as Merry rubbed his now throbbing nose, grimacing. He picked up the dreaded apple and threw it angrily into the bag with the other small gather of food.

"O-Okay, Merry," Pippin stuttered from laughter as he grabbed another apple. "Ready for another?" He asked as he lifted his arm, ready to throw.

Merry nodded and braced himself once again, "Throw it better, this time!" He called, a smile lingering on his face.

"Catch it better, this time!" Pippin cheekily replied wholeheartedly as the fruit flew through the air and landed right into Merry's awaiting hands.

"Yeah!" They both cheered and Merry yelled in victory as he jumped about with the apple. This time, he carefully placed this one in the bag slowly, making sure not to bruise any of the other items.

Finally, all the good apples had been plucked- and a few eaten. Climbing down, Pippin looked up at the sky.

"It's starting to get dark." He observed. Pity; he didn't really want this day to end.

Merry took a quick gander into the bag, "Well, it's still not entirely filled yet." He told Pippin. "Why don't we quickly split up? Look for anything we can eat, gather it and then meet back here in a few minutes."

"Right." Pippin quickly nodded at the offer and they turned simultaneously to walk in different directions, searching near every tree, bush and rock for edible things to take back to their hole.

At least two and a half minutes had gone by, Pippin hadn't found anything and Merry was gone from his sight, which was obstructed by trees and leaves everywhere he looked anyway, so it didn't bother him.

"Hmm," he murmured, "if I were a mushroom, where would I be?" he asked himself as he knelt down and crawled on the ground, scanning over every inch he could see.

"Mushroom, mushroom, mushroom." He quietly chanted to himself. He loudly gasped when a mushroom did indeed actually come into view, "Mushroom!"

Pippin half crawled, half scurried over to the single mushroom, plucking it from the ground and shoving it in his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in days. Huh, minutes more like it.

Hobbits were usually knows for their passion of food, but Pippin sure did know how to take advantage of that nature.

He hadn't even swallowed the first mushroom when he suddenly saw a bunch out of the corner of his eye- oh, it was mushroom heaven!

He stood up and quickly stumbled his way over to the massive cluster white-ish fungi, staring at the massive population of the mushrooms before plucking one by one and popping them into his mouth.

Mmm, these had to be the best mushrooms Pippin had tasted! The texture of the mushroom was satisfying and the feel of them beneath and between his teeth caused him begging for more.

He reached down, grabbing another two or three from the bunch and crammed them into his mouth; another three followed after that.

Pippin had taken his time to eat a few more, but was not starting to feel too well after the next few dozen after that. He had begun to feel woozy and a little disorientated. He realised he had no idea how long he had been. He could've been here between two or thirty minutes and wasn't sure if he should go back or not; not that he knew which way he came from.

He tried to shake the dizziness from his head as he sat up. Pippin looked around, failing to work out in his fuzzy and distracted mind which way Merry was most likely waiting for him.

Looking down in his hand, he held a single mushroom, and out of pure habit, Pippin raised the fungi to his mouth and he bit the top off it, chewing loudly.

"Pippin!?"

He could hear Merry's faint voice from a little way away; wow, they really must've ventured off quite far from each other. Pippin headed toward where he thought it was coming from.

"Pippin!?" Merry cried out once again, the concern and frustration clear in his calls.

He swallowed the mushroom to call back. "I'm he-" Pippin went to reply, to let his cousin know he was just on his way back; but something stopped him. It had gotten it caught in his throat. His hands shot up to his neck, trying to swallow, cough, talk- heck, he just tried to breath!

The headache, nausea and dizziness were really causing Pippin problems focusing and he lent against the tree for support; he didn't trust his legs to keep him up right in this state.

He wheezed and tried to cough, to dislodge the blasted mushroom cap that he hadn't been able to successfully swallow. It was clogging up his airway and he just couldn't get it out. He couldn't breath.

So, this was it, was it? Most of the hobbits, including Pippin himself, used to joke about the fact that if they died by food, they'd die happy. But happy was the last thing Pippin was feeling at this moment.

He tried to get as much air back into his body and lungs as he could, but no luck, not even a sound came out. Pippin's face started to turn red from lack of air and slowly, he started to slump down the tree trunk he had been leaning on and as soon as his body heavily hit the ground, he passed out from asphyxiation; and since there was no way for him to breathe now, he slowly passed into the darkness of death...

"Pippin!?" Another cried called out for him in vain; just another voice carried by the wind that started to blow. It was getting too dark to see anything, and Merry had no choice but to leave.

Merry had kept an eye out while on his way back to his home in Hobbiton. He was sure he had said to meet back at the apple tree in a few minutes after leaving, but maybe Pippin had just wondered off and headed back to his own home.

On the way to his snug hobbit hole, he looked over to Pippin's hole with a crease in his brow. No lights were on. No sight of anyone home.

Merry really didn't know what to do. It was now way too dark to go back out to the forest looking for Pippin, if he was even in there. Maybe he had payed Frodo a visit on the way back.

Yes. That must be it. Pippin probably dropped into Frodo's house on the way back. Well, their families did travel to Hobbiton often and stay in the holes they had bought there to spend time with the dear Bagginses. Maybe Pippin wanted to share some of the foods he found with him, to spend time with him. It may've been getting late, but Frodo always had an open house with open arms and a warm smile on his face.

Merry contently smiled as he thought of Frodo and Pippin, his two favourite people in the whole of Middle-earth. They were his best friends and he truly couldn't imagine a life without them. Maybe, one day, life will take them on an adventure the three of them longed for.

But that train of thought was for another day. Merry yawned loudly and widely, opening the round door and stepping inside away from the chilly air. He made his way to his room and crashed upon his inviting and cozy bed.

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The next day, Merry noticed a few of the hobbits seemed a little on edge, including Frodo and Sam, who looked to be in a serious conversation.

"What's the matter?" Merry walked up to the two of them, both of whom had concerned faces as they talked with uneasy voices.

"Ah, Merry!" Sam exclaimed as he took a few anxious steps towards the younger hobbit. "Merry, have you seen Pippin?" Sam asked, he voice stern. "Paladin and Eglantine have been looking for him all night." He added as he pointed over to the two older hobbits, frantically looking and asking other hobbits.

Merry quickly glanced at Pippin's parents, then at Sam, and just looked blankly at the gardener; he didn't know what to say. He was sure Pippin had returned last night; why wouldn't he? That's not something he'd do. "What do you mean?" He heard his own voice ask.

Frodo placed a gentle, caring hand onto Merry's shoulder and looked into his eyes, "Pippin's disappeared." Those were the only two words Merry needed to hear before he started sprinting back towards the forest, back to the apple tree.

Frodo and Sam tried to follow, but he was too fast. Sam had run out of breath and Frodo had gotten a cramp. Panting, they watched as Merry ran towards the forest and hopefully on his way to find Pippin.

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No luck.

No matter how hard Merry thought he had tried, he had not found Pippin anywhere. There was no trace of him or where he could've gotten to.

Merry lent against a tree and sighed loudly, which quickly turned into a sob. Rubbing his now wet and red eyes, Merry allowed his constant growing concern to flow out of him freely before he straightened himself up and headed back to Frodo and Sam, who were probably at The Green Dragon.

'_... To the bottle I go, to heal my heart and drown my woe...' _That's how the local pub song lyrics went, which seemed quite fitting in this situation. The feeling in his heart was beginning to feel that he might not actually see Pippin again; and it was breaking his heart.

Sighing once more, he made his way back to Hobbiton and to The Green Dragon.

Little did he know, that had he just looked at the other side of the tree he was leaning on, down towards the base, he would've seen his poor cousin's lying on the ground.

But even then, there would've been nothing he could do to save Pippin.

During Pippin's blind grab at the mushrooms the night before, he neglected to even remotely notice or even think that they might not be safe to eat. Well, every other mushroom he knew of was, so why shouldn't this one? Poor naive Pip.

He had consumed way too much poison. 'Alpha-Amanitinhe' was a deadly toxin found in the 'Death cap' and 'Fool's mushroom'... Oh, you fool of a Took. The quantity he had consumed was considered deadly; not that any amount of the stuff was considered 'safe', but Pippin's overdose had caused the affects to speed up.

Nausea, dizziness, unconsciousness, delusions- these were some of the things Pippin had started to notice before he passed out from choking.

There was no way Pippin could've survived a deadly poison _and _continuous lack of air... No. What would've been much to Merry's dismay if he found out; Pippin had passed away from this world last night, in the freezing cold in the dirt.

Pippin was dead.

And unless someone found him one day, Pippin was destined to lie in the filthy mud, surrounded by the poisonous mushrooms that had killed him.

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Merry sat on the stool, alone at the Green Dragon. A while ago, Frodo and Sam were upset to hear that Pippin was nowhere to be found, but they tried to convince him, and probably themselves, that Pippin was fine, that he was a strong lad and was bound to turn up sooner or later. But after 2 hours of trying to sooth him, the two had decided to mope elsewhere, leaving Merry alone.

But despite Frodo and Sam's positive thoughts, in the pit of Merry's stomach, he had a feeling that they were all wrong, that Pippin was hurt- or worse.

Drowning his woes at the bottom of a pint, Merry thought about the many-a-times he and Pippin had hopped and danced upon these table tops and drunkenly sung many merry tunes to the crowd.

He wondered if he'd ever see Pippin again. If they would even go on an adventure, or climb another tree, or tell stories at night, or even hug each other when they were scared... Wow. Merry suddenly felt cold and shivered. He really needed a hug right about now. A hug from his Pippin.

The worst part was that he had no closure. For the rest of his life, Merry will never ever know what happened to his best mate and cousin, whether he was dead or alive- and that thought was excruciatingly hurtful.

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**Because a few people have asked, I am thinking of writing a second chapter where Merry actually finds Pippin. If you'd like a chapter like that, please review, and I might just write it :)**


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